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Published: July 19th 2014
Pub lunches
Did I mention we were relaxing and having a good time?Farewell cycle touring Europe, Hello Ireland
Our 3 months in the Schengen area were up so we had to leave. Next stop, Dublin. We found a great ride into Dublin city along the Grand canal from our hotel and rode into town a couple of times to explore and finally to catch the train to Westport and our first Irish B&B and a “full Irish Breakfast”. Loved the bacon, eggs, sausages, grilled tomato, black and white pudding (well actually, I couldn’t eat the pudding), baked beans and toast. So if we return a bit pudgier than we should be- blame the breakfasts, (and the pub dinners!)
In Westport we rode the Greenway to Achil Island and then several things combined to make us scrap any further plans for cycle touring. Firstly the ride which was described by everybody as ‘flat’ was beautifully scenic but not flat. Basically Ireland has lots of hills. The second thing was Peter developed sciatica and finally I broke a spoke on both bikes while riding around the island and when we got back to a bike shop the mechanic said the front wheel on Peters bike was about to disintegrate – every spoke was
Beautiful views over the bay
Fact, you only get good views when you ride up big hills! loose. We had been rescued from the Island by a friendly bike hire company that on hearing of our disabled bikes, gave us a lift back to Westport. Add in the Irish roads, bordered on both sides by stone walls and we decided cycle touring was off the list of things to do in Ireland.
So instead of cycling we hired a car and explored Ireland, finding farm house bed and breakfasts, youth hostels, student apartments (available during the summer holidays) and boutique hotels. We checked out the new Wild Atlantic Way drive and generally had fun. Highlights were Michael Skellig- a rocky outcrop on which Monks in the 6
th century (?) decided to build stone huts and live there on the edge of the known world and the adjacent Little Skellig with 30 000 breeding pairs of cormorants. We have driven the length and breadth of Ireland- the photos tell the story. Still having fun, love the friendly greetings and people we meet. We do find that Irish accents sometimes cause more communication problems than we had in France or other non English speaking countries!!!
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